Each year, Baltimore Yearly Meeting (BYM) asks individual Meetings to prepare a statement of the spiritual condition of their Meeting over the past 12 months. BYM’s Ministry and Pastoral Care Committee collects these reports and uses them as the basis for the development of the Yearly Meeting's Spiritual State of the Meeting report, which is presented to, considered by, and approved by the Yearly Meeting during Annual Session.

The 2017 Frederick Friends Meeting Spiritual State of the Meeting was presented and approved at Meeting for Business in April 2017.

***

In the past year, our Frederick Friends Meeting community has enjoyed many new attenders as the need for spiritual community has grown. We grieve the loss of longstanding members of our community through death, illness, and relocation. We cherish our community as it ebbs and flows through challenging times.

We strive to manage Meeting for Worship as a shared experience of the divine amid tension about current events. We struggle to encourage vocal ministry that keeps to the spirit and is meant for all, to value the silence and the gift of all of us as ministers. We hope worshippers understand there is neither an expectation to speak nor an expectation to remain silent in our gatherings. Ministry and Counsel committee may consider announcing at the start of Meeting for Worship: “We are invited to sit in silent, waiting worship. If you receive a message and determine that it is meant for more than yourself, please stand and share it so that others may hear it.”

Friends expressed wishes for attenders to consider membership and to encourage what one Friend called “the ministry of showing up.” Our bond as a community is strengthened when we come together for worship and to conduct business. Another Friend gave the example of a weekly Quaker ladies’ meeting that would open with the query, “How has the Spirit dealt with thee since last we met?” This question allowed for an opening of the Spirit and caused the Friend to experience the days differently by holding that query in mind throughout the week. At our cores, we are seekers, seekers of the Light.

One Friend noted that there are disagreements within Meeting and we ignore dealing with them. We have a collective consciousness at Meeting that includes longstanding strains between and among individuals that is an inescapable part of living in community. Can we accept that we are Friends and allow each other to be who we are? Can we abide the tension within the community, knowing that we are gathered in divine love?

Other questions we ask ourselves: What do we do to cultivate listening? How can we practice nurturing friendship and tolerance even when we disagree? In the wider world, how do we respond to inflammatory language and stay centered in truth? How do we move forward and find middle ground? What is the heart of Meeting here, as a community?

New attenders have expressed curiosity about the manner in which Friends make decisions, and also frustration at the amount of time our decisions can take. We see a need to communicate the way of Friends to adult attenders/members, perhaps by offering “Quakerism 101”–type adult education opportunities and discussion forums. Our monthly book study group meets some of these needs. We can offer regular second-hour discussions on vocal ministry and silent worship and what we are doing as a Meeting.

We acknowledge the need to attend to the youngest members of our community by mindfully focusing on the needs of school-age Friends and planning gatherings with an intergenerational focus. On a casual basis, we encourage adults to interact with the kids; it is enriching to mingle with them and helps them become more a part of the Meeting.

We see lack of racial diversity as a challenge for our community. Some Friends have begun intervisitation with other communities of faith for personal understanding and outreach. The focus of these efforts is not to recruit members for our community, but rather to foster understanding with the larger community. We acknowledge that diversity includes categories beyond race. Speaking to love and inclusion is always right.

Keeping all these needs in mind, we realize our limitations as a small group with finite time and energy. Committee work and maintenance of our building, which is a ministry in and of itself, can feel like a burden. The structure of our committees could perhaps be streamlined so that we can more easily attend to things that we care about. We seek balance between getting work done and fulfilling other demands in our lives.

In the coming year, we hope to work on bringing our Meeting together, fostering a spirit of listening, and building up our spiritual resources, so that, as a community, we can navigate these times with courage and grace, bearing witness to truth and resisting evil. As always, we feel grateful to be a community journeying together in Love.